Try .95 * 20 min power (or 30 min) for your FTP. It's not the most accurate (although it's pretty close for me) but it's loads better than the FTP you are using now. If your FTP is off then all the other good stuff WKO or GC tells you, like TSS, CTL/ATL, etc, will be off.

I have tried .95, but I can't imagine holding that wattage for 60min. Any recommendations for working on 60min+ power? The standard 2x20 type intervals don't seem to really work that well for me. Maybe like 3x20 or something ...

For 60+ power I do long rides (4 to 5 hours).I have also thought about sub-ftp intervals on 3 hour rides like: 8x10+5. That means 2 hour interval and 30min varmup and cooldown. But I havnt tried it yet.

I haven't seen many new power records this year. I'm guessing because my current records are almost exclusively from blow out efforts done late in the season last year. However, I'm noticing that on many of my training rides I've been inching very very close to breaking the records. My 1 minute effort was done without me even realizing it. I was racing a friend up a decent sized climb and never felt like I was going to hard. 483w was the power, but the normalized power was 547w.

The 320w 20 minute power was done on the trainer in a 2x20 effort that seemed unreal. Normally I had been sitting at 285-290w, but that day I felt strong and started ramping it up after about 5 minutes - I was in shock when I saw the end value (I had taken the last 2 weeks easy - maybe I was overtrained a bit?). The next interval was only 2w shy of the first. It will be interesting to see exactly what an all out effort would result in. I haven't tested my 5 minute power yet, but I'm guessing it will be close to 370w.

Im definetely no sprinter! I think I could improve my 1min as I dont train or even test that at all. Ive been mostly concentrating on improving my FTP and climbing. Level in Oslo seems pretty good. Im only 34th on our local major climb Strava Segment (5.6km at 6.7%). Makes me feel very humble (and slow!). Here's the link http://app.strava.com/segments/1942901

I recently did my first power profile test according to the protocol described by Coggan. I struggled to keep power in zone 2 after I performed the maximal blocks, further on I struggled a lot to execute the 15" sprints well. Do you feel 'fresh' enough to perform two 15" max sprints after the complete test protocol ?

The result was quite astonishing to me; I thought I was quite a good sprinter and had worse 1' performance, this is at least how I noticed my performance in mtb xc racing. According to the test however I was a 'pursuiter' with my 5" performance in catII and my 1' on the edge of domestic pro/world class. Even with my best 5" efforts from training I would be in catI, however in reality I can quite easily outsprint others, especially when I attack in the last 50m. So, to what extent does the power profile protocol fit reality ? I understand some guys accomplish very good test results, though they lack race results due to lots of reasons, but I can't believe a power profile from a training test vs racing performance differs that much ? In here I thus mean the power profile (sprinter, pursuiter,..), not the respective categories according to watt/kg values.

I'm 24 years, mainly doing international xc racing, close to finishing my studies and hoping to become a pro thereafter.

With sprinting, it's no good having a massive 1s max power if your 1min power is no good - as in all likelihood you'd be blown out the back before the sprint is contested.

A lot depends on race smarts and race conditioning. David Millar in his book wrote about coming back from his ban, on 'paper' (according to his SRM) he was in excellent shape. First race and his doors were blown off.

In my experience I've also found it's great to have numbers that compare well to the chart, however a 5min max power that might be at Cat 1 levels is useless unless you're able to repeat close to that multiple times in a race. Having a great one-off power doesn't tell the full story (not that it sounds like it would be as much an issue for you).

So as handy as those power charts are, there's a lot more at play than simply doing some tests, getting some good numbers and think "rightio, I'm off to find me a Pro Conti team"

(you could of course be an exception to this and be able to smash out these powers all day, in which case a signed top from your new Pro team would be great )

Wasn't there an intro like "to satisfy people's curiosity" or something like that?

Anyway it's fun to see forum users discussing training and power profiles (hell they discuss anything to death...) without having ever competed on at least cat1 level. It simply doesn't work like this, maybe for triathletes or pure time trialists but not for real racers.

Great book btw and a great guy, too. I suffered with him on this year's tour stage and loved to see both Millar and Peraud completely destroyed after the finish. Real class, real racing.

Downloaded racefile from my PT SL+. It was +-20 hrs stagerace so I changed PT rec.interval from 1 to 2 seconds. On 4th stage avs was +-50 km/h, but when I opened this file on GC, it was 40some, watts were right, hr cad was right (well virtual cadence, but anyway) distance was right. When I opened it on PA, avs was right too..?? Why?

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